Sb 


JAMES  HENDERSON  DICKSON,  A,  M„M.D. 


A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 

BY 

Thomas  K.  Wood,   Ni.    D. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/jameshendersondiOOwood 


EOEN  DECEMBER  1808  :  DIED    SEPT  26TK  1362, 


(Biographical  Sketch  with  Portrait. J 

The  mouth  of  September,  1862,  was  one  of  great  calamity  to 
Wilmington  The  alarming  for  bocUngs  of  the  visitation  of  yellow 
fever  in  a  pestilential  form  had  ripened  into  a  certainty.  Depleted 
of  her  voung  and  active  men,  there  was  only  a  military  garrison  in 
occupation,  and  when  the  presence  of  fever  was  announced  the 
soldiers  were  removed  to  a  safer  locality.  The  coir  try  people 
taking  a  panic  at  the  news  of  the  presence  of  the  fever  no  longer 
■sent  in  their  supplies,-  The  town  was  deserted,  its  silence  only 
.broken  by  the  occasional  pedestrian  bound  on  errands  of  mercy 
to  the  sick,  or  the  rumbling  of  the  rude  funeral  cart.  The  blocka  e 
was  being  maintained- with  increased  rigor.  The  only  newspaper 
then  published  .was  the  Daily  Journal,  under  the  editorship  of 
James  Fulton,  and  its  issues  were  maintained  under  the  greatest 
difficulties,  "owing  to  scarcity  of  paper  and  sickness  among  the 
printers.  All  eyes  were  turned  anxiously  toward  the  physicians 
and  those  in  authority  for  help,  To  all  of  the  resident  physicians 
the  disease  was  a  new  one,  not  one  in  the  number  had  ever  seen  a 
case  of  yellow  fever,  and  among  them  were  men  of  large  experi- 
ence. The  municipal  authorities  recognized  their  helplessness;  the 
town  was  neglected,  for  it  had  been  overcrowded  with  soldiers  and 
visitors  since  the  early  days  of  the  spring  of  1861.  The  black  pall 
of  smoke  from  the  burning  tar-barrels  added  solemnity  to  the 
deadly  silence  of  the  streets  ;  designed  to  purify  the  air  and  mitigate 
the  pestilence,' they  seemed  more  like  fuliginous  clouds  of  ominous 
portent,  designed  as  a  sombre  emblem  of  mourning.  Panic,  distress, 
mute  despair,  want,  had  fallen  upon  a  population  then  strained  to 
its  utmost  with  the  bleeding  columns  of  its  regiments  dyeing  the 
hills  of  Maryland  with  their  blood,  until  the  whole  air  was  filled 
with  the  wail  of  the  widow  and  orphan,  and  the  dead  could  no 
longer  be  honored  with  the  last  tribute  of  respect. 

The  Wilmington  Daily  Journal  of  September  29th,  1862,  gave 
all  its  available  editorial  space  to  chronicle  for  the  first  time  the 
character  of  the  epidemic,  and  in  a  few  brief  words  to  notice  the 
death  of  some  of  the  more  prominent  citizens.  One  paragraph  in 
the  simple  editorial  notice  ran  as  follows  :     "  Dr.  James  H.  Dickson, 


2  JAMKS    IIEXDEKSOX    DICKSON",    AM.,    MIX 

a  physician  of  the  highest  character  and  standing  died  here  on 
Sunday  morning  of  yellow  fever.  Dr.  Dickson's  death  is  a  greats 
loss  to  the  profession  and  to  the  community"  Close  by,  in  another 
column,  from  the  pen  of  the  acting  Adjutant  Lt.  VanBokkelen,  of 
the  3d  N.  C  Infantry,  numbering  so  many  gallant  souls  of  the 
young  men  of  Wilmington,  was  the  list  of  the  killed  and  wounded 
from  the  bloody  field  ol   Sharpsburg. 

Distressed  and  bereaved  by  this  new  weight  of  sorrow^  Wilmington* 
sat  in  the  mournful  habiliments  of  widowhood,  striving  amidst  the 
immensity  of  the  struggle,  to  make  her  courageous  voice  heard 
above  all  the  din  of  war  to  nerve  the  brave  hearts  who  stood  as  a> 
girdle  of  steel  before  beleaguered  Richmond, 

James  Fulton,  the  well-known  editor  of  the  Journal,  the  wary 
politician  and  the  cautious  editor,  striving  on  the  one  hand  to  kee}> 
the  worst  from  the  world  lest  the  enemy  might  use  it  to  our  disad- 
vantage, often  ruthlessly  suppressed  from  his  limited  space  such 
matters  as  in  these  days  of  historical  research  might  be  of  the 
greatest  service.  There  were  two  predominant  topics  which 
eclipsed  all  the  impending  sorrow  and  distress — foreign  interven- 
tion, to  bring  about  a  peace  on  honorable  terms,  and  warnings  to 
the  State  government  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  defense  of 
Wilmington  harbor  against  the  enemy.  The  former  topic  was 
discussed  with  unvarying  pleasure.  The  horizon  of  the  future  was 
aglow  with  the  rosy  dreams  of  mandates  from  the  English  and 
French  governments  which  would  bring  independence  to  the 
Confederacy  and  peace  and  quietness  to  the  numerous  homes  from 
the  sea  to  the  mountains,  where  sorrow  and  deatli  had  hung  like  a 
pall.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  few  publications  that 
had  survived  the  scarcity  of  printing  material,  should  have  con- 
tained so  little  of  biographical  matter.  Comrades  dropped  on  the 
right  and  the  left,  but  the  lines  were  closed  up,  the  hurried  tear 
wiped  away,  and  the  line  pushed  steadily  forward.  The  distin- 
guished physician,  or  general,  or  jurist,  as  well  as  the  humble 
private,  got  his  passing  notice  in  the  meagre  letters  which  a  chance 
correspondent  sent  to  one  of  the  few  newspapers,  and  in  a  short 
time  he  was  forgotten  in  the  fresh  calamity  of  the  day. 

We  come  to  our  task,  therefore,  of  sketching  the  biography  of 
Dr.  Dickson,  wTith  a  sense  of  the  meagerness  of  the  materials  which 
are  needed  to  do  justice  to  his  memory,  but  with  dopp  respect  and 


JAMES    IIEKBEKSON    DICKSON,    A  ST.,    Rl.D.  3 

veneration  for  him  who,  as  citizen,  scholar,  physician  and  patriot, 
has  left  his  lasting  impress  upon  his  native  town. 

James  Henderson  Dickson  was  the  son  of  James  Dickson,  a 
commission  merchant  of  Wilmington.  He  was  born  in  Wilmington 
December,  1806.  At  the  very  early  age  of  12  or  13  he  was  entered 
at  the  University  as  a  student,  graduating  with  distinction  in  the 
class  of  1823,  when  he  was  only  10  or  17  years  of  age. 

Having  made  choice  of  the  medical  profession,  he  became  a 
studei  t  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Armand.  J.  deRosset,  the  senior 
doctor  of  that  name,  and  the  oldest  physician  in  Wilmington.  The 
office  education  of  a  student  of  that  day  was  not  only  that  of 
reading  through  the  course,  but  of  learning  by  laborious  practice 
the  art  of  pharmacy,  which  included  all  the  manipulations  from 
pulverizing  the  crude  drug  to  the  completion  of  the  galenical 
compounds. 

He  attended  lectures  at  the  Medical  Department  of  Columbia 
College,  New  York,  now  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
graduating  before  he  reached  his  majority,  in  1827. 

He  began  the  practice  of  medicine  at  South  Washington,  but 
removed  to  Fayetteville  sometime  in  1827,  where  he  practiced  until 
1837.  During  his  residence  in  Fayetteville  he  cultivated  a  decided 
talent  for  surgery,  particularly  aspiring  to  those  operations  in  which 
there  had  been  but  lew  exploits  before  his  day.  except  by  the  more 
distinguished  teachers.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  an  opera- 
tion of  direct  transfusion  (in  1833)  from  the  arm  of  one  sister  to 
another,  thereby  saving  her  life.*  The  other  operation  was  more 
notable,  being  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  orthopedic  operations, 
before  there  was  ever  a  science  of  orthopedy,  it  was  a  tenotomy  for 


*At  the  early  date  of  1833  there  are  but  few  successful  cases  of  trans- 
fusion of  blood.  One  by  Bickersteth  ;  one  by  G.  G.  Bird,  Midland 
Medical  and  Surgical  Reporter,  Worcester,  I830 ;  one  by  J.  Blundell, 
London  Lancet,  1829;  one  by  W.  Bingham,  Edinburg  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal,  1827  ;  one  by  D.  Fox,  London  Medical  and  Physiolo- 
gical Journal,  1827;  one  by  J.  Fraser,  Lancet,  1835;  one  by  J.  Howell, 
London  Lancet,  1828 ;  one  by  Waller,  London  Medical  and  Physiologi- 
cal Journal,  1825 ;  and  one  in  1826.  Seven  cases  are  all  that  could  be 
gathered  from  "Index  Catalogue  Library  fcurgeon  General's  Office," 
and  from  "  Neale's  iJijxest." 


4  JAMES    IIENl'EKSON    DICKSON,    A.M,,    M.D. 

a  club-foot,  in  the  person  of  bis  own  brother,  Dr.  Robt.  D  Dickson. 
Tliis  operation  was  done  in  1835.* 

From  Fayetteville  he  removed  to  New  York  City*  where  for  four 
years  he  practiced,  returning  to  his  native  home  in  1841  at  the 
-solicitation  of  his  father,  whose  health  was  then  declining.  Shortly 
after  his  return  to  Wilmington  ho  entered  into  the  practice  of 
medicine  with  Dr  Louis  J.  Poisson  ;  the  latttr  gentleman  dying  in 
1842,  a  large  practice  at  once  devolved  upon  him,  increasing  steadily 
to  the  end  of  his  career. 

In  1845  he  married  Miss  Margaret  Owen,  the  daughter  of  General 
James  Owen,  the  first  President  of  the  Wilmington  &  Raleigh 
Railroad  and  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  C  pe  Fear  District 
in  1817. 

Those  few  friends  who  knew  Dv.  Dickson  intimately  always 
regretted  that  his  life-work  had  not  been  the  professor's  chair, 
rather  than  the  routine  of  general  practice.  The  whole  caste  of 
his  intellect  was  that  of  the  profound  student,  and  it  was  very 
remarkable  to  note  with  what  facility  he  would  go  from  the 
drudgery  of  pharmacy  to  the  realms  of  science  and  literature.  In 
those  days  few  general  practitioners  were  so  well  off  that  they  did 
not  have  to  stand  by  the  hour  at  the  pill  tile  after  a  hard  day's 
practice,    making    up    medicines    for   the    messengers    they  found 

*The  operation  of  subcutaneous  tenotomy  of  the  tendo-achillis  for 
club-foot  has  been  believed  to  have  heen  done  by  Dr.  Dickson  for  the 
first  time  in  the  United  States.  The  friends  of  Dr.  Detmold  have 
claimed  for  him  the  priority^based  upon  his  reports  in  American  Jour- 
nal Medical  Sciences,  1838;  hut  investigation  shows  that  Dr.  Nathan 
R.  Smith,  of  Baltimore,  reported  a  case  of  "division  of  the  tendo 
achillis  for  the  cure  of  club-foot,  American  Journal  Medical  Sciences, 
1830  The  latter  operation  even  antedates  Stromeyers'  operations  in 
1830  1831.  He  introduced  the  surgery  of  club-foot ;  but  his  earliest  work 
was  in  1838.  According  to  the  rules,  priority  of  operation  would  not 
be  bestowed  on  Dr.  Dickson,  as  none  of  his  cases  were  reported.  The 
gentleman  upon  whom  Dr.  D.  operated  in  1835  is  now  living,  himself 
a  physician  and  the  brother  of  the  operator.  After  all,  priority  is  not 
so  much  a  ground  for  professional  distinction  as  the  establishment  of  a 
principle.  The  operator  whose  teaching  and  practice  inculcates  new 
methods  that  stand  the  test  of  experience,  whether  he  be  originator 
or  imitator,  is  truly  entitled  to  the  honors.  To  Delpech  we  owe  the 
first  surgical  idea  of  the  treatment  of  club-foot,  and  this  dates  back  to 
1823,  eight  years  before  Stromeyers'  publication. 


JAMES    HENDERSON    DICKSON,    A.M.,    M  D.  O 

'waiting  for  their  return  from  their  rounds.  The  druggist  had  not 
then  become  the  scientific  helper  of  the  people  and  the  doctor,  and 
hours  of  laborious  work  were  spent  in  pharmaceutical  manipulations, 
that  the  present  generation  of  physicians  know  nothing  about. 
The  writer  has  seen  him  many  times  stand  in  his  office,  book  in 
hand,  snatching  a  half  hour  with  a  favorite  author  in  the  lull  of  hi* 
busy  rounds.  Studiousness  and  the  habit  of  concentrated  thought 
were  such  marked  characteristics  that  he  paused  with  the  general 
public,  and  even  with  some  of  his  patients,  as  a  man  of  coldness 
and  austerity,  and  while  it  was  true  that  he  was  a  man  of  too  severe 
dignity  and  too  seriously  engaged  with  the  affairs  of  his  profession 
to  find  time  for  trifles,  he  was  approachable,  responsive  to  the 
demands  of  friendship,  tender  towards  the  afflicted,  helpful  to 
•struggling  young  men,  and  susceptible  to  the  blandishments  of  the 
gay  and  mirthful  in  seaso". 

His  back  office  was  headquarters  for  old  friends  who  sought  his 
advice  and  opinions  upon  all  subjects,  from  the  management  of 
estates  to  the  burning  of  a  brickkiln  ;  he  was  the  encyelopediac 
referee  of  this  coterie.  The  business  system  then  in  vogue  of 
•attending  families  by  the  year  for  a  given  sum  placed  the  physician 
of  that  date  more  in  the  attitude  of  general  medical  and  sanitary 
•adviser  than  -now.  Those  families  having  large  numbers  of  slaves 
at  work  in  saw  mills,  rice-fields,  brickyards,  turpentine  orchards 
•and  elsewhere,  had  frequently  difficult  problems  before  them,  and 
»it  was  not  only  about  the  maintenance  of  health  that  they  were 
concerned,  but  upon  every  topic  of  domestic  and  manufacturing 
economy  did  they  come  with  their  difficulties  to  be  solved. 

To  illustrate  his  accessibility  a  friend  related  the  following- 
incident  :  "  I  had  been  elected  cashier  of  a  bank  recently  organized, 
fcut  knew  not  where  to  go  to  secure  bondsmen.  I  was  a  poor  young- 
man,  having  no  property  adequate  to  satisfy  the  demand  of  such  a 
large  bond,  and  I  almost  despaired  of  securing  the  situation.  One 
night  happening  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Dickson,  he  noted  my  troubled 
look  and  remarked  upon  It  I  told  him  my  story,  and  he  replied  : 
"  Well,  William,  if  my  name  is  acceptable  to  your  board  of  directors, 
you  need  not  feel  embarrassed  for  another  day." 

CHAPEL    HILL    ADDRESS. 

Notwithstanding  Dr.  Dickson's  studious  habits,  it  was  known  to 
very  few  that  his  studies  took  as  broad   a  range  as  they  did  in 


G'  JAMES    IIENDEKSOX    DICKSON,    A.M.,    M.I7. 

general  science  and  literature,  until  in  1853  be  was  invited  by  thej 
Alumni  Association  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina  to  deliver 
an  address  before  that  body. 

Ilis  classmates  found  that  Dr.  Dickson  had  made  good  use  of 
the  time  which  had  elapsed  since  his  graduation,  and  that  he  had; 
returned  to  his  Alma  Mater  the  ripe  scholar  as  well  as  the  distin- 
guished physician.  His  address  from  beginning  to  end  indicated 
the  atmosphere  of  broad  scientific  study  from  which  he  canght  his- 
inspiration.  His  busy  mind  had  intelligently  grasped  the  progress 
science  was  making,  and  he  revelled  in  the  glories  of  the  achieve- 
ments, not  only  of  those  sciences  collateral  to  medicine,  and  which  the 
educated  physician  of  broad  reading  would  be  expected  to  master  as 
an  accomplishment,  but  mathematics,  astronomy,  geology,  physics,, 
were  all  passed  in  review.  Nor  was  this  all — profoundly  imbued 
with  the  national  spirit,  he  turned  with  pride  to  the  American 
historians,  scholars,  scientists  and  artists  with  a  familiarity  which 
showed  the  bent  of  his  tastes,  and  how  thoroughly  he  was  abreast 
of  all  the  progressive  work  in  all  departments. 

He  gave  in  this  address  the  key-note  of  his  own  career.  In 
deprecating  the  utilitarian  standard  of  professional  accomplish- 
ments he  says  ;  "  *  *  *  But  we  object  to  an  exclusive  devotion 
to  such  pursuits  as  having  a  tendency  to  narrow  and  contract  the 
mind.  Nor  does  it  generally  lead  to  the  attainment  of  the  highest 
professional  reputation.  Marshall  and  Story  were  not  mere  lawyers7 
but  men  of  enlarged  and  profound  scholarship.  Mere  professional 
attainments  would  probably  never  have  elevated  Jeffre}^  or 
Brougham  to  the  peerage ;  Armstrong  and  Darwin*  are  hardly 
known  except  as  poets,  and  the  literary  fame  of  Burke  and 
Clarendon  completely  eclipses  their  professional  reputation.  A  low 
degree  of  knowledge  and  an  imperfect  discipline  of  the  mind  is 
the  necessary  result,  where  the  standard  of  present  utility  is  set  up, 
as  the  measure  of  its  value. 

"It  is  irdeed  an  ignoble  principle  of  action — a  mode  of  thinking 
which  casts  a  deadly  blight  upon  morals,  literature  and  art,  and 
extinguishes  all  high  aspirations  after  the  beautiful  and  ideal,  either 

*Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin,  the  author  of  "  Zoonomia  "  and  "  The  Botanic 
Garden." 


JAMES-   HENDERSON    DICKSON,    A.M.,    M  D.  V 

in  life  or  literature.     We  are   told   by  the   poet,  and   with  truth, 

that 

"Man  loves  knowledge,  and  the  light  of  truth 
More  welcome  strikes  his  understanding's  eye 
Than  all  the  blandishments  of  sound,  his  ear, 
Than  all  of  taste,  his  tongue." 

The  general  public  had  now  learned,  what  his  few  intimate  friends 
already  knew,  that  the  revered  physician  was  ripening  in  the  higher 
culture  of  the  philosopher,  the  literateur,  and  the  man  of  science. 

WILMINGTON    LIBRARY    ASSOCIATION. 

In  1860  Dr.  Dickson  and  his  intimate  friend,  the  Hon.  George 
Davis,  conceived  the  design  of  founding  a  public  library.  Starting 
out  one  day  with  the  warm  impulse  of  establishing  for  their  native 
town  the  social  and  literary  advantages  of  a  library  of  choice 
literature,  they  secured  as  the  work  of  one  day's  solicitation  eighteen 
hundred  dollars  with  which  to  purchase  books.  These  gentlemen 
with  rare  judgment  prepared  a  list  of  volumes,  not  only  represent- 
ing the  standard  authors  of  the  day,  but  the  best  editions  in  superior 
library  binding,  which  Dr.  Dickson  selected  during  a  special  visit 
to  New  York  City.  This  collection,  although  plundered  by  the 
army  of  occupation,  reflects  now  their  literary  tastes  and  judgment, 
and  forms  the  basis  of  the  Wilmington  Library  Association. 
Before  his  death  he,  with  his  associates,  had  found  a  home  for  their 
collection  in  the  City  Hall  building,  in  the  room  now  used  as  the 
Mayor's  office,  but  the  outbreak  of  the  war  interrupted  literary 
pursuits,  and  the  cherished  objects  of  the  Library  were  not  fulfilled. 
He  was  chosen  the  first  President  of  the  Wilmington  Library 
Association  in  1860. 

His  address  before  the  general  public  was  on  the  subject  then 
near  to  his  heart,  and  was  entitled,  Some  Remarks  upon  Books 
and  Libraries.  He  followed  Mr.  Davis,*  whose  reputation  as  a 
public  speaker  was  State-wide,  and  none  who  heard  the  fervid 
eloquence  of  Dr.  Dickson  when  he  apostrophized  the  book  of  all 
books — the  Holy  Scriptures — will  ever  forget  the  murmur  of 
applause  which  seized  the  surprised  audience  that,  for  the  first 
time,  discovered  he  was  more  than  a  skilled  physician,  the  sympa- 
thizing succorer  of  the  distressed — he  was  a  literary  man  of  the 

*Mr.  Davis  had  delivered  a  lecture  as  a  part  of  this  course  on  "The 
Good  Old  Times  ;  When  Were  They  ?  " 


'8  JAMES    HENDERSON    DICKSON,    A.M.,    M  D. 

-highest  culture,  and  a  speaker  of  distinguished  merits.  Even  to 
this  day,  the  impress  of  that  famous  address  is  remembered  and 
recognized  as  the  inauguration  of  a  literary  movement  in  the 
community.  The  address  was  not  published,  and  it  is  not  known 
if  the  manuscript  copy  exists.  His  office  was  plundered  by  the 
army  of  occupation  and  his  papers  strown  into  the  streets  by  the 
Federal  soldiers  or  camp-followers.  His  own  library,  to  which  in 
1858  and  subsequently  he  had  made  such  large  additions,  had  been 
sent  to  Laurinburg  for  safety,  was  captured  at  that  place,  and  the 
last  known  of  it  it  was  on  board  a  Federal  gun-boat  being  carried 
down  the  river. 

THE    MEDICAL    SOCIETY    OF    THE    STATE, 

When  the  call  for  the  Convention  for  the  organization  of  a  State 
Medical  Society  was  made  in  1841),  Dr  Dickson,  although  he  was 
not  of  the  number,  was  known  to  have  been  in  hearty  accord  with 
the  movement,  but  he  was  tied  down  by  the  burdens  of  an  exacting 
practice.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  North 
Carolina  in  May,  1852,  and  in  1854  he  was  made  its  President. 
The  weight  of  his  influence  was  given  in  the  forming  of  a  State 
Board  of  Medical  Examiners,  and  when  this  dream  of  its  sanguine 
promoters  was  realized  in  1859,  he  was  chosen  to  be  the  first 
President  of  that  new  body.  His  associates  were  Otis  F.  Manson, 
J.  G.  Tull,  C.  Happoldt,  W.  II.  McKee,  Charles  E  Johnson  and 
Caleb  Winslow,  all  men  of  excellent  attainments — a  worthy  Board, 
to  which  was  entrusted  the  first  experiment  in  Medical  State  Exam- 
inations in  the  United  States. 

Dr.  Dickson  delivered  the  annual  address  before  the  Medical 
Society  at  its  meeting  in  Fayetteville  in  May,  1 8 5 .-5 .  His  subject 
was  "Respiration"  in  its  relation  to  Animal  Heat,  Heart's  Action 
and  Nerve  Force.  His  review  of  the  theories  was  a  masterly 
exposition  of  what  was  then  held,  by  the  best  teachers,  beginning 
with  the  theory  of  Mayo,  (*1674,  Medico-  Chintrg  Review),  that 
"the  effect  of  respiration  was  to  generate  heat,  and  not  to  cool  the 
blood  heated  by  its  rapid  circulation  throughout  the  body,  *  *  * 
and  that  it  does  this  by  a  process  analogous  to  combustion."  In 
turn  he  discussed  the  theory  of  Lavoisier,  that  heat  was  caused  by 
the  combustion  of  carbon  in  the  lungs,  pointing  out  the  objection 


*Original  Essay  Tractatus  de  Respiratione,  1668. 


JAMES    IIKNDKHHUN    DICKSON,    A.M.,    BID.     '  51 

held  to  that  theory.  He  took  up  the  experiments  of  Dulong,  who 
set  forth  that  there  was  much  more  oxygen  absorbed  by  the  respira- 
tory process  than  was  necessary  to  convert  the  carbon  i  to  carbonic 
acid — sometimes  amounting  to  fully  one-third  more  Dulong's 
conjecture  that  inspired  oxygen  was  expended  in  the  combustion 
of  hydrogen,  thus  accounting  for  watery  vapor  exhaled.  Liebig's 
view  that  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  the  food,  in  being  converted 
by  oxygen  into  heat  as  if  they  were  burned  in  the  open  air — the 
only  difference  is  that  the  heat  is  spread  over  unequal  spaces  of 
time,  but  the  actual  amount  is  always  the  same  in  the  torrid  as  in 
the  frigid  zone.  Against  this  theory  the  essayist  weighed  the 
opinion  of  Graves,  holding  in  the  main  to  the  theory  of  Liebig. 
Claude  Bernard's  account  of  the  glycogenic  functions  of  the  liver, 
showing  that  the  liver  had  the  important  function  of  preparing 
respiratory  pabulum. 

After  reviewing  the  various  theories  he  goes  on  to  say  that  he  is 
"  inclined  to  regard  the  opinion  of  the  older  physiologists,  which 
ascribed  a  refrigerating  effect  to  the  respiratory  process,  to  some 
extent,  as  well  founded."  He  did  not  believe  that  the  primary  or 
more  esse  tial  function  of  the  lungs  was  to  sustain  animal  heat. 
"If,  then,  neither  the  maintenance  of  the  animal  temperature  nor 
the  excretion  of  carbonic  acid  be  regarded  as  the  essential  function 
of  respiration,  where  shall  we  seek  an  explanation  of  it?"  His 
inferenc  ;  was  that  the  preservation  of  the  motion  of  the  heart, 
including  withal  that  of  the  muscular  system  and  the  maintenance 
of  nerve  force,  were  the  essential  and  primary  object  of  respiration, 
although  he  by  no  means  underrated  the  calorific  function  of 
respiration.  Forty  years  ago  and  now,  physiology  was  a  very 
different  thing,  but  the  philosophical  spirit  of  the  older  teachers 
compensated  largely  for  their  deficiency  of  our  moder  j  facts. 

The  lengthiest  medical  contribution  which  Dr.  Dickson  gave  to 
the  public  was  a  "  Report  of  the  Medical  Topography  and  Epidemics 
of  North  Carolina,"  made  to  the  Transactions  of  the  American 
Medical  Association  in  1860.  The  basis  of  this  paper  is  in  part  the 
collection  of  observations  from  physicians  in  several  sections  of  the 
State,  together  with  his  own  observations,  upon  the  geographical 
distribution  of  disease  in  the  various  sections,  with  a  somewhat 
detailed  account  of  them.  This  report  remains  to  this  day  the 
fullest  description  of  our  endemic  and  epidemic  diseases,  and  was 


10  '    JAMES    HENI)     RSON     DICKSON,     A.M.,    M.D., 

a  fair  index  of  the  capabilities  of  the  writer  i  ■  description  and 
editing  the  material  of  others.  The  older  members  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  North  Carolina  will  be  familiar  with  this  production, 
doubtless,  but,  in  the  light  of  our  knowledge  of  the  changes 
wrought  in  the  characters  of  all  diseases  by  the  two  visitations  of 
epidemic  influenza  in  1889-1890,  they  may  be  impressed  with  the 
necessity  of  a  wider  range  of  the  study  of  epidemiology. 

The  description  given  to  this  paper  of  "Febiis  Remittens 
Convulsiva,"  puts  on  record  for  the  first  time  a  description  of  a 
disease  that  was  very  fatal  until  its  true  nature  was  discerned. 
Dr.  Dickson  says:  "In  this  class  of  cases  the  first,  and  some- 
times the  second,  paroxysms  of  fever  may  be  unattended  with 
the  appearance  of  alarming  symptoms,  but  the  third  paroxysm  is 
apt  to  be  ushered  in  with  a  convulsion  which  seems  to  replace  the 
cold  stage  of  the  same  disease  in  adults,  and  which  is  always  so 
alarming  and  dangerous  an  occurrence  as  to  make  it  prudent  to  cut 
short  the  disease  once  by  bringing  the  system  very  rapidly  under 
the  potent  influence  of  the  febrifuge."  He  modestly  accords  the 
originality  of  this  suggestion  to  Dr.  Henry  F.  Campbell,  of 
Augusta. 

Typhoid  fever  was  a  stranger  to  the  Eastern  part  of  North 
Carolina  until  in  the  fifties,  as  Dr.  Dickson  intimates,  and  "  When 
it  first  began  to  prevail  in  the  Eastern  section  of  this  State,  cases 
exhibiting  the  blending  or  commingling  of  this  type  of  fever  with 
remittent  fever  were  by  no  means  uncommon,  and  in  these  cases  it 
was  necessary  to  keep  in  view  its  hybrid  character  in  the  treatment ; 
such  cases  could  not  well  be  treated  without  quinine."  Here  we 
have  an  anticipation  of  Dr.  Woodward's  theory,  for  which  at  the 
International  Medical  Congress  in  1876  he  introduced  the  name  of 
typho-malarial  fever. 

In  this  essay  is  described  for  the  first  time  the  invasion  of  cerebro- 
spinal meningitis,  which  invaded  Davie  county  in  1856,  as  reported 
by  Drs.  Summerell,  Kelly  and  Sharpe. 

At  the  Salisbury  meeting  of  the  Society,  May  15,  1855,  Dr. 
Dickson  delivered  his  valedictory  address,  on  the  completion  of  the 
second  term  of  his  presidency. 

How  nearly  his  life  and  death  comported  with  his  own  model  we 
will  let  an  extract  from  this  address  tell  : 

"  In  times  of  public   calamity  arising   from   the    visitations  of 


JAMES    HENDBHSON    DICKSON,    A.M.,    M.I).  II 

fearful  epidemics,  who  but  a  physician  is  looked  up  to,  in  aid  of 
the  public  authority,  to  suggest  the  means  of  escaping  from,  or  of 
lessening,  their  destructive  progress?  What  other  class  of  citizens 
is  there  which  can  inspire  the  panic-stricken  with  confidence  or  the 
despairing  with  hope?  And  may  I  not  add,  what  other  class  have 
exhibited  more  ab  egation  of  self  or  heroic  devotedness  to  the 
great  cause  of  humanity  in  its  trying  hours?  If  proof  were 
needed,  I  might  point  to  a  long  list  of  professional  martyrs,  who 
have  exhibited  the  calmest  courage  amidst  scenes  which  have 
paled  the  cheek  of  the  soldier,  and  have  not  flinched  from  the 
discharge  of  duty  at  the  risk  of  life.  We  must  remark,  too,  that 
they  were  not  influenced  by  the  ordinary  motives  which  influence 
the  soldier  in  the  exhibition  of  noble  daring  in  the  field  of  battle. 
There  are  no  applauding  thousands  to  witness  their  deeds  of  heroic 
daring — to  shout  in  their  ears  the  grateful  sound  of  many-voiced 
applause — they  are  not  surrounded  by  the  pomp  and  ciicumstance 
of  glorious  war — no  laurel  decorates  their  brow — no  monument  is 
reared  to  perpetuate  their  fame  After  spending  their  lives  in  the 
daily  performance  of  deeds  which  might  well  put  the  philanthropy 
of  a  Howard  to  the  blush,  they  descend  to  the  tomb  unheralded  by 
the  world's  applause.  The  world  has  other  matters  to  attend  to, 
other  schemes  to  plan  and  accomplish,  and  the  memory  of  its 
humble,  unpretending  benefactors  passes  away  with  the  passing 
hour.  This  is  no  fancy  picture,  gentlemen.  Its  literal  counterpart 
was  enacted  in  the  y  ar  that  has  past,  on  our  very  borders,  in  the 
cities  of  Savannah,  Charleston  and  Augusta,  and  must  be  fresh  in 
the  recollection  of  us  all.  If  the  world  chooses  to  ignore  such 
devotion  to  the  great  cause  of  humanity,  let  us  tho  more  fervently 
cherish  the  recollection  of  their  virtues,  and  firmly  resolve  to 
imitate  their  noble  example  by  a  like  devotion  to  duty,  should 
circumstances  unfortunately  devolve  upon  us  the  task." 

In  politics  Dr.  Dickson  was  a  staunch  Whig  of  the  old  school, 
and  when  the  political  agitations  which  led  up  to  the  war  were 
stirring  the  people  with  the  strongest  indignation  against  the 
attitude  of  the  North,  he  counselled  prudence  and  moderation. 
That  he  was  one  of  a  very  small  minority  favoring  the  settlement 
of  the  troubles  in  a  friendly  way,  made  him  none  the  less  resolute 
for  the  Union. 

Looking  over  the  files  of  the  Wilmington  Daily  Journal  of  1861, 


12  JAMES    HKNDHRSON    DICKSON1,    A.M.,    M.I). 

our  eye  lit  upon  the  announcement  of  a  Union  meeting  to  be  held 
January  11th.  The  meeting  was  addressed  by  F.  D.  Poisson,  J.  G. 
Burr,  George  Davis  and  James  H.  Dickson.  The  account  reads  : 
"  Resolutions  were  passed  in  favor  of  the  settlement  of  the  existing 
difficulties  in  the  Union,  and  endorsing  as  a  baeus  for  such  settle 
■ment  the  propositions  brought  forth  by  Senator  Crittenden.  In 
this  meeting  Dr.  Dickson  followed  Mr.  George  Davis,  "deprecating 
secession  as  a  disunion  of  the  South,  and  as  inadequate  to  remed}^ 
the  evils  complained  of  by  the  South.  If  the  North  would  not 
listen  to  the  united  demands  of  the  South,  then  the  fifteen  Southern 
States  would  be  justified  in  snapping  the  bonds  that  bind  us  to  the 
North.  The  meeting  adjourned  with  three  cheers  for  the  Star 
Spangled  Banner."  He  lived  to  see  his  efforts  for  his  country  for 
reconciliation  fail,  and  no  Southern  man  aligned  himself  with  the 
destiny  of  the  Confederacy  with  more  earnest  courage.  Hopeful 
of  success  he  was  not,  but,  like  most  of  the  staunchest  who  were 
for  the  Union  as  long  as  there  was  any  prospect  for  its  restoration, 
he  unflinchingly  cast  all  of  his  fortunes  with  his  people 

So  great  were  the  demands  of  his  large  practice,  for  him  to 
accept  a  position  in  the  army  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  He 
remained  faithfully  at  his  post,  ministering  to  the  sick  at  home. 
On  the  6th  May,  of  1861,  he  presided  over  the  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Medical  Examiners  at  Morganton,  the  last  meeting  held 
until  the  war  ended. 

It  is  not  worth  while,  at  this  late  day,  to  discuss  the  cause  of  the 
yellow  fever  in  Wilmington  in  1862.  For  half  a  century  there  had 
been  no  such  visitation,  and  there  was  no  physician  then  in  practice 
who  had  seen  a  case  of  the  disease.  It  was  evident  in  August  of 
that  year  that  there  was  an  unusual  number  of  cases  of  fatal  fever. 
Dr.  Dickson  made  a  report  to  John  Dawson,  Mayor,  declaring  the 
presence  of  yellow  fever  on  September  17th  (the  letter  in  the  Daily 
Journal  is  undated).  His  report  went  on  to  say  that  there  had 
been  no  new  cases  since  the  10th  of  September,  and  he  hoped  that 
this  lull  in  the  fever  was  due  to  the  sanitary  measures  that  had  been 
adopted  by  the  town. 

On  the  23d  September  Dr.  Dickson  went  home  with  a  chill  which 
he  recognized  as  the  first  stage  of  yellow  fever.  He  was  faithfully 
attended  by  Mrs.  Dickson  during  his  entire  sickness  and  she  fell  a 
victim  to  the  disease,  but  finally  recovered.     He  was   under  the 


JAMES    HENDERSON    DICKSON,    A.M.,    M  I).  1  X 

constant  care  of  the  physicians  then  in  town,  and  especially  by  the 
senior  Dr.  McRee,  who  attended  him  day  and  night  until,  on 
Sunday  morning,  the  28th,  his  spirit  returned  to  God  who  gave  it. 

The  following  appeared  in  the  North  Carolina  Presbyterian  of 
the  issue  succeeding  the  announcement  in  the  Wilmington  Daily 
Journal: 

"In  our  last  number  we  published  a  short  list  of  prominent 
citizens  who  died  of  yellow  fever  in  Wilmington  ;  and,  amongst 
others,  was  observed  the  name  of  Dr.  James  H.  Dickson,  a  citizen 
of  high  standing  and  an  eminent  physician.  But,  more  than  this, 
he  was  a  man  of  exalted  piety.  For  some  years  he  had  been  an  elder 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  most  faithful  and  zealous  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties.  On  the  appearance  of  yellow  fever  in 
Wilmington  he  determined  to  stand  bravely  at  his  post,  and  was 
engaged  in  the  noble  work  of  alleviating  the  sufferings  of  his 
fellow-man  when  he,  too,  was  stricken  down  by  the  fearful  epidemic. 
But  death  had  no  terrors  for  this  good  man.  He  died,  as  lie  had 
lived,  a  shining  example  of  true  piety  and  religious  devotion.  We 
fully  concur  in  the  remark  made  to.  us  by  a  friend  on  hearing  of 
his  death  :    '  No  man  was  better  prepared  to  die  than  Dr.  Dickson.'  " 

Only  a  week  elapsed  between  his  official  announcement  of  the 
fever  to  the  Mayor  and  his  own  seizure,  and  in  five  days  after  he 
was  dead  By  the  advice  of  the  physicians  all  persons  left  town 
that  had  not  already  been  scattered  in  a  panic  previously,  and  the 
death  of  Dr.  Dickson  spread  sadness  and  dismay  over  the  town 
and  the  country  around.  Many  anxious  families  had  centred  their 
hopes  on  his  professional  wisdom  and  skill ;  most  of  them,  too  poor 
to  leave  town  except  by  the  impulsion  of  the  direct  necessity, 
had  their  hopes  now  crushed  by  his  death. 

At  this  distance  from  the  sad  calamity  of  his  death,  it  is  even 
now  difficult  to  estimate  his  true  worth.  His  portrait,  which  accom- 
panies this  sketch,  denotes  the  serious  demeanor,  the  reflective 
mind,  the  intellectual  cast.  He  was  taciturn  at  times,  but  it  was 
rather  the  wisdom  of  knowing  when  to  speak,  than  the  lack  of 
opinions  and  thoughts.  Apparently  austere  at  times,  it  was  only  the 
inflexibility  of  steel  when  truth  was  at  stake.  In  the  sick  room  he  had 
not  the  loquacity  which  pleases  the  valetudinarian,  but  in  time  of 
peril,  quickness  of  discernment,  accuracy  of  knowledge,  fertility  of 
resource,  and  withal  gentleness  of  touch.     His  visits  were  short, 


14  JAMES    HENDERSON    DICKSON,    A.M.,    M.I). 

his  words  were  few,  bis  sympathy,  though  unexpressed,  was  great. 
Many  have  been  the  expressions  of  surprise  and  delight  from  the 
people  in  moderate  circumstances,  who,  asking  their  accounts  from 
him,  found  that  the  arduous  services  rendered  had  been  estimated 
according  to  the  purse  of  the  recipient. 

The  fame  which  survives  the  medical  man  is  largely  estimated  by 
his  literary  contributions.  This  is  a  method  which  would  be  unjust 
to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Dickson.  Although  living  the  life  of  the 
student,  and  having  no  superior  and  few  equals  in  scholarship  in 
the  profession,  so  great  were  the  burdens  of  his  practice,  that  there 
was  little  time  for  authorship.  The  glimpses  wre  have,  though,  of 
his  ability  as  a  writer,  show  the  quality  of  his  trained  mind  and  the 
graceful  flow  of  his  sentences.  His  vocabulary  was  rich,  his  research 
extensive,  and  before  his  death  he  easily  held  the  highest  position 
for  literary  culture  among  his  professional  contemporaries. 

By  his  people — his  family — his  patients — his  memory  is  not 
revered  for  scholarship,  but  for  his  skill  as  a  physician  and  his 
consecrated  Christian  character.  The  mournful  recollection  that 
he  unflinchingly  perilled  his  life  for  them,  is  a  heritage  far  richer 
than  the  applause  of  enraptured  multitudes.  His  was  the  exempli- 
fication of  a  Christian  courage  which  has  nerved  many  another  heart 
to  go  to  the  silent  duty  to  meet  "  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  dark- 
ness," counting  life  not  too  dear  to  peril  it  all  for  the  sick  and  helpless. 

His  own  words  are  best  fitted  to  close  this  memorial.  They  are 
but  the  prophetic  forecast  of  that  to  which  he  attained  : 

"  But  in  striving  after  the  attainment  of  a  high  order  of  scholar- 
ship and  the  acqusition  of  human  learning,  let  us  not  forget  that 
man  has  a  moral,  as  well  as  an  intellectual,  nature — that  human 
learning,  scientific  knowledge,  as  we  call  it,  is  but  the  outward 
garment,  the  artificial  investiture  of  truth — that  our  emotional 
feelings  and  affections  have  a  higher  dignity,  a  holier  sanctity,  than 
our  intellectual  powers.  Let  us  not  neglect  the  teaching  of  that 
prima  philosophia,  that  supreme  wisdom,  which  not  only  sheds  its 
bright  light  on  the  pathway  of  life,  but  spans  with  its  iridescent 
radiance  the  dark  clouds  which  overhang  the  tomb — penetrates  the 
otherwise  impenetrable  and  obscure,  and  intermingles  its  cheering 
beams   with  the  glorious  effulgence  of  eternal  day — that  wisdom 

which 

"  Makes  us  brave 
In  the  great  faith  of  life  beyond  the  grave." 


JAMES    HENDERSON    DICKSON,    A.M.,    M.D.  15 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

A  Sketch  of  the  Topography  and  of  the  Diseases  which  have 
Prevailed  in  the  Town  of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  during  the 
decade  embraced  by  the  years  1841  and  1850  ;  10  pp.  Transactions 
Medical  Society  North  Carolina,  Wilmington,  May,  1852. 

Address  on  Respiration  :  Source  of  animal  heat,  contractions  of 
th<*  heart,  nerve  force  [no  title],  delivered  before  the  Medical  Society 
of  North  Carolina,  at  its  Fourth  Annual  Meeting,  in  Fayetteville, 
May,  1853  ;   15  pp.     Transactions,  1853. 

An  Address  delivered  before  the  Alumni  Association  of  the 
University  of  North  Carolina,  June,  1853.  Pamphlet,  43  pp. 
Raleigh,  1853. 

Valedictory  Address,  delivered  before  the  Medical  Society  of 
North  Carolina,  at  Salisbury,  May,  1855  ;  pp.  6.  Transactions, 
1856. 

Report  on  the  Topography  and  Diseases  of  North  Carolina, 
delivered  before  the  American  Medical  Association,  1860. 


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